Starting A Car By Removing The Air Filter And Holding The Flutter Valve Open
| Field | Cars |
| Went Obsolete | Late 1980s? |
| Made Obsolete By | Fuel-injection |
| Knowledge Assumed | Someone had to show you |
| When useful | Antique and classic cars |
Car won't start? Open the hood, unscrew the wing-nut on top of the air-filter, lift the whole thing off. You'll see a flutter valve that was controlled by “the choke.” Up to the 1960s, some cars even had a push-pull lever on the dash to control this.
To get the car to start, you hold open the flutter valve (preferably with a stick or screwdriver) while someone turns the key and gives it gas. This got more air to the engine and also helped clear up the situation known as, “You flooded it!”.
Also, you could buy this probably poisonous stuff and spray it into the top of the carb as you held the valve open. This stuff came in a can from auto-parts stores. It was basically something more explosive than gasoline to give the engine that extra push.
